[[!meta date="2017-08-21 10:17:27"]]
[[!meta author="Tyler Cipriani"]]
[[!meta copyright="""
Copyright &copy; 2017 Tyler Cipriani
"""]]
[[!meta title="Solar Eclipse"]]
[[!tag
photos
photos/70-200mm-f-2.8
photos/nikon-d610
]]

![[Small](https://photos.tylercipriani.com/thumbs/f2/8ccc3b93f55e0ae6249f72675b851c/small.jpg) |
[Large](https://photos.tylercipriani.com/thumbs/f2/8ccc3b93f55e0ae6249f72675b851c/large.jpg) |
[Medium](https://photos.tylercipriani.com/thumbs/f2/8ccc3b93f55e0ae6249f72675b851c/medium.jpg) |
[Xlarge](https://photos.tylercipriani.com/thumbs/f2/8ccc3b93f55e0ae6249f72675b851c/xlarge.jpg) |
[Original](https://photos.tylercipriani.com/thumbs/f2/8ccc3b93f55e0ae6249f72675b851c/original.jpg)](https://photos.tylercipriani.com/thumbs/f2/8ccc3b93f55e0ae6249f72675b851c/large.jpg)

The view of a 93.8% solar eclipse from Sandstone Ranch in Longmont, Colorado.
These photos were taken from 10:23 AM MDT &ndash; 1:14 PM MDT.  The center of
this image is the peak of 93.8% of the sun obscured at
2017-08-21T11:47:39-06:00.

## Gear

![[eclipse camera setup](https://photos.tylercipriani.com/thumbs/61/473e6f5497d9a2c20463da879e8b4c/index.html) (the big blurry spot is a scratch on the lens of my Nexus 5x)](https://photos.tylercipriani.com/thumbs/61/473e6f5497d9a2c20463da879e8b4c/small.jpg)

1. [Nikon D610](https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-D610-FX-Format-Digital-Camera/dp/B00FOTF8M2/ref=sr_1_3) - full-frame DSLR that I've had for a few years
2. [Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II](https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-70-200mm-Nikkor-Digital-Cameras/dp/B002JCSV8U/ref=sr_1_2) - longest lens I own
3. [Nikon Auto Focus-S FX TC-20E III 2x Teleconverter](https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Focus-S-TC-20E-Teleconverter-Cameras/dp/B0030BG8ZC/ref=sr_1_1) - gave me an effective 400mm focal length
4. [iOptron SkyGuider Pro](https://www.amazon.com/iOptron-SkyGuider-Camera-Mount-Package/dp/B07199QMR6) - this canceled out the motion of the earth relative to the sun, so didn't have to worry about constantly realigning my camera.
5. Thousand Oaks 77mm threaded mylar solar filter
6. ThinkPad x230 acting as a shitty intervalometer

## "Software"

(notice the quotes)

I used my ThinkPad x230 as a shitty intervalometer rather than my
[[x220|blog/2016/11/13/coreboot-on-the-thinkpad-x220-with-a-raspberry-pi]] as I
have no faith in the battery life of the x220. I really thought this was my
PocketCHIP's time to shine, but `gphoto2` was pretty out-of-date. Updating to
stretch proved to be a bad time, as one might expect. I used `gphoto2` to take
7 pictures every 4(ish) minutes at different exposures using a bash script I
wrote:

```
#!/usr/bin/env bash

starttime="$(date +%s)"

# 4 Minutes intervalometer
sleeptime=$(( 4 * 60 ))

gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config autoiso=1

while /bin/true; do
    # Shutter delay 1s to avoid mirror-up shake
    gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config d06a=2
    gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config f-number=f/8 \
        --set-config capturetarget=1 \
        --set-config shutterspeed=0.005 \
        --set-config iso=100 \
        --set-config imagequality=3 \
        --trigger-capture
    sleep 1

    # Turn off shutter delay
    gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config d06a=3
    gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config f-number=f/8 \
        --set-config capturetarget=1 \
        --set-config shutterspeed=0.00125 \
        --set-config iso=100 \
        --set-config imagequality=3 \
        --trigger-capture
    sleep 1

    # Shutter delay 1s to avoid mirror-up shake
    gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config d06a=2
    gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config f-number=f/11 \
        --set-config capturetarget=1 \
        --set-config shutterspeed=0.005 \
        --set-config iso=100 \
        --set-config imagequality=3 \
        --trigger-capture
    sleep 1

    # Turn off shutter delay
    gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config d06a=3
    gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config f-number=f/11 \
        --set-config capturetarget=1 \
        --set-config shutterspeed=0.00125 \
        --set-config iso=100 \
        --set-config imagequality=3 \
        --trigger-capture
    sleep 1

    # Shutter delay 1s to avoid mirror-up shake
    gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config d06a=2
    gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config f-number=f/11 \
        --set-config capturetarget=1 \
        --set-config shutterspeed=0.02 \
        --set-config iso=100 \
        --set-config imagequality=3 \
        --trigger-capture
    sleep 1
    gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config f-number=f/8 \
        --set-config capturetarget=1 \
        --set-config shutterspeed=0.125 \
        --set-config iso=100 \
        --set-config imagequality=3 \
        --trigger-capture
    sleep 1
    gphoto2 --camera='Nikon DSC D610' --set-config f-number=f/8 \
        --set-config capturetarget=1 \
        --set-config shutterspeed=0.5 \
        --set-config iso=100 \
        --set-config imagequality=3 \
        --trigger-capture
    sleep 1

    sleep $sleeptime
done

endtime="$(date +%s)"
totaltime=$(( endtime - starttime ))
echo "Total time: $totaltime"
```

Overall I was happy with this setup. You can see sunspots in each of my images
fairly clearly. So what changes for the 2024 eclipse? Longer lenses never hurt
anyone: I wasn't a huge fan of the teleconverter and I felt that I lost some
sharpness. I'm also not sure that I didn't lose some sharpness with my solar
filter, too.

EXIF |
--- | ---
ExposureTime | 1/200
FNumber | 8.0
Description | The view of a 93% solar eclipse from Sandstone Ranch in Longmont Colorado.
Title | Solar Eclipse
FocalLength | 400.0 mm
CreateDate | 2017-08-21 10:17:27
GPSLongitude | -105.037979
Lens | 70-200mm f/2.8
ISO | 100
GPSLatitude | 40.152786
Model | NIKON D610
Make | NIKON CORPORATION
GPS Link | [View in OpenStreepMap](https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=40.152786&mlon=-105.037979&zoom=19&layers=M)
